Exercise calories

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Panda_Jack
Panda_Jack Posts: 829 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've really been trying to exercise more lately and was wondering if I should be eating all those calories back?
Sometimes the difference is huge and I'm usually not hungry enough to eat back the calories I burned from exercise.
What is a safe deficit and how much is too much?

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    If you have a lot of weight to lose you don't have to eat all of them, but you should eat some. The closer you get to your goal weight the more of them you should eat to make sure your daily caloric deficit is not too large, and to ensure you are losing fat and not muscle.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    If you have a lot of weight to lose you don't have to eat all of them, but you should eat some. The closer you get to your goal weight the more of them you should eat to make sure your daily caloric deficit is not too large, and to ensure you are losing fat and not muscle.

    Wow. You have managed to get this down to a nice short paragraph that explains it all.
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    Make sure to eat enough so that your NET calories are at least over 1200. Ideally your NET calories and GOAL calories would be = at the end of the day.

    If you workout at night, try to plan a little extra at each meal or snack so that you don't have such a huge amount to eat back after your workout.

    If you do end up with a huge deficit on one day- feel free to use up a few of those calories the next day, esp early on - if you've had a huge burn your body could likely use calories for recovery.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Make sure to eat enough so that your NET calories are at least over 1200. Ideally your NET calories and GOAL calories would be = at the end of the day.

    If you workout at night, try to plan a little extra at each meal or snack so that you don't have such a huge amount to eat back after your workout.

    If you do end up with a huge deficit on one day- feel free to use up a few of those calories the next day, esp early on - if you've had a huge burn your body could likely use calories for recovery.

    The OP is a man so the number for him should be 1500 Net, not 1200.
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    If you have a lot of weight to lose you don't have to eat all of them, but you should eat some. The closer you get to your goal weight the more of them you should eat to make sure your daily caloric deficit is not too large, and to ensure you are losing fat and not muscle.

    Wow. You have managed to get this down to a nice short paragraph that explains it all.

    LOL- might just copy this and use it as the standard answer!
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    Oh- sorry- didn't realize. Sorry. 1500 is correct.
  • cjfoster
    cjfoster Posts: 36
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    I've just try and reach my initial calorie goal. I think the more weight you lose and muscle you can you will gradually see an increase because your body will tell you it needs more.
  • Panda_Jack
    Panda_Jack Posts: 829 Member
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    Great stuff, thanks for all the input.
  • jrueckert
    jrueckert Posts: 355 Member
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    If you have a lot of weight to lose you don't have to eat all of them, but you should eat some. The closer you get to your goal weight the more of them you should eat to make sure your daily caloric deficit is not too large, and to ensure you are losing fat and not muscle.

    Wow. You have managed to get this down to a nice short paragraph that explains it all.

    Haha I like it. This question is so rare ;)

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